Freshly furrowed fields of Tsukuba


Morning scenery with flooded rice fields in the middle of Tsukuba.

Last night when I came home from work, for the first time this year the sound of croaking frogs could be heard from the nearby freshly drenched rice fields.

Rains brought by the start of the rainy season in eastern Japan has flooded the fields, rousing the frogs and summoning the herons and egrets that always come at this time of the year.

I’ve always loved the sound of croaking frogs at night. On some evenings the sound can be almost deafening when you’re standing outside, and that’s when you realise you’re surrounded by living nature. In the morning, wading birds get their bellies full of these local delicacies.

The sound of frogs reminds me of my little hometown in the northwest Luzon in the Philippines where, the last time I visited, they served us adobo frogs for lunch.


Excess water overflowing into the irrigation ditch.


Islands of loamy soil on a sea of rain and irrigation water.


Wild grasses doing their best to survive before they get uprooted for the rice-planting season.


Irrigation ditch beside the rice fields.


Heaven and earth in one rice field photo.


Tractors criss-crossing the paddies the other day left these patterns of tracks.


Upside-down houses and discarded tire.